Welcome to the blog
This is the blog, where I’ll be posting work I’ve done, news I have and things I like. If you have an RSS reader, this is the place you’ll be referring to.
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Latest Posts
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+ Read more…Adobe Design For Impact
I was chosen by Adobe as one of four international ‘design heroes’ to present a selection of my work and discuss design and layout, at a live web conference in Singapore. It’s quite a design-focused chat rather than a film-focused one, but we talk about the processes behind Animal Kingdom and Burning Man at some length, and also touch on the joys of marketing, typography and how Photoshop saved my life.
+ Read more…Interview for MUBI’s Poster of the Week
Adrian Curry had already given some very kind reviews of my work before, so when he decided to highlight the Burning Man poster in his regular column, he asked me for a few words about it. Naturally I gave him a few hundred.
Interview and review are here. (2011)
+ Read more…Passion Project
#3: Bioshock
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Created by Irrational Games. Published by 2K.
Xbox 360, 2007.Warwick Thornton’s ‘Stranded’
Composition, montage and retouching for the key art and prints (and popcorn boxes) to accompany Warwick Thornton’s 3D video art, Stranded.
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The Canberra Times
Bit of a surprise this one. I had no idea, but it looks like an interesting exhibition. Piece is here.
+ Read more…Passion Project
#2: Tomb Raider
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Created by Core Design. Published by Eidos.
Sega Saturn, 1996. -
Passion Project
#1: Shadow of the Colossus
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Created by Team Ico. Published by Sony Computer Entertaiment Japan.
PlayStation 2, 2005.Animal Kingdom Titles
July 31, 2011 | Posted By: Jem | Other work |[videoplayer file="http://www.jeremysaunders.com/2010/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/animal-kingdom.mov" /]
Created with Luke Doolan. Music by Antony Partos.
+ Read more…The Salton Sea
July 13, 2011 | Posted By: Jem | Photography |This has become the first part of a longer series of photographic essays on ghost towns around the world that have been abandoned as a result of ecological disasters. There will be more to follow. If you’d like to see more of these, you can check out the Departures book or keep your breath held until I’ve gone around the world a few more times, poking about in often not-particularly-safe environments for your viewing pleasure.
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International Emmys
February 4, 2011 | Posted By: Jem | Other work |
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Client: Academy of Television Arts and Sciences -
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
January 17, 2011 | Posted By: Jem | Unused Key Art |
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Departures
Just put together a book for my own solipsistic thrall, because I like seeing photographs printed out on bits of dead trees rather than ephemerally lighting up pixels on a screen. And it occurred to me that maybe someone else somewhere might like one too.
This is a collection of photographs taken around the world during 2009 / 2010 (and actually a sneaky couple from 2008 that I missed when I was titling the book). There’s a large section of photographs from the Salton Sea in California, plus locations as varied as New York’s financial district, the set of Samson & Delilah, the grim bits of Amsterdam and the many mausoleums of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
It’s 120 pages, hardback, and all profits will go to Médicins Sans Frontières.
Click here to have a look and order.
+ Read more…The Pragmatic Art of Poster Design
Interview with Encore Magazine where four of Australia’s key art designers are asked about the future of key art. I forgot to bring along any punctuation. For what it’s worth, the points I was stumbling drunkenly toward were these: that key art is still vital as the most concise, succinct distillation of the film, whatever its physical form is; and that the rationale for key art can no longer be ‘to sell tickets’ in an age where trailers, synopses and reviews — generally far, far better indicators of whether a film is worth your investigation than an image could ever be — are only ever a couple of keystrokes away…
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Work by Jeremy Saunders: An exhibition
27th to 30th May 2010, Dungog NSW.
Thanks to the fine folks at the Dungog Film Festival, particularly Stavros and Allanah, for their support and encouragement. The reprints and unprinted designs were printed by WHO Printing in Newcastle, and then those and the original posters were framed and mounted by WHO Presentations. Posh grog was provided by Bluetongue (the other Bluetongue, Nash was nowhere to be seen).+ Read more…
Allanah Zitserman (DFF), Yours Truly, Helen Ogle (WHO Printing)
Making Samson & Delilah
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Just in case you were in any doubt as to whether these kids can act or not.
Client: Scarlett PicturesHesher (Sundance)
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Sadly I do not know who the illustration was done by, it’s really amazing – I can’t claim credit, I just did some editing and turned it into a poster. After careful consideration I decided that this should really be seen, rather than not seen, and my site is as good a place as any to show it.Interview with SBS
As he tells it, “the film industry is small and everybody is closely interconnected. As soon as you do something good, and I’m sure as soon as you do something bad, everybody has found out about it. Things snowballed from there really.”
Interview is here (2010).
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Interview with the Sydney Morning Herald
JEREMY SAUNDERS has no trouble finding hanging space for his latest artworks. Generally there’ll be prints in scores of places all around the country. Creating film posters for the likes of Samson & Delilah, Little Fish, Balibo, Candy and Antichrist is a high-profile business … for at least a few weeks.
Interview is here (2010).
+ Read more…Interview with Trespass Magazine
And as somebody who has followed Saunders’ career, it’s not hard to guess that they will be adored by lovers of film posters around the world and he will continue to be “the Jeremy Saunders” who gets slightly embarrassed that his ticket-sellers are causing such a fuss.
Interview is here. (2010)
+ Read more…FAQ #3
Q: Hey, will you design key art for my film?
A: You know what, I might. I don’t actually care that much what your budget is. I just want to be inspired by you or your work. If it’s an interesting idea, a compelling script, or the talents involved are people I’d like to work with, then yes, yes, yes. I don’t really care whether you are making a short film or a feature, a doco or a three-part epic. It’s easier, more fun, and also produces more interesting key art when the project moves me.
A few points to note:
Market posters can be produced, but you’ll need a good script and/or some compelling filmmaking talent to get my gander up.
I know: you’re not finished cutting and the sound is temp and the effects are placeholders and some of the dialogue needs fixing and the grade will save the visuals. It’s okay. I rarely see films these days that are finished.
You really don’t need key art as a cover for your unfilmed script. Trust me on this one. Save your money for a rewrite instead.
Any project promoting any form of religion will be rejected immediately. Other than that I’m pretty open to anything.
I’m more than happy to do shorts and no-budget-feature jobs, providing I have the time – and the fiscal room to manoeuvre at the time. These jobs tend to be the most offered and least-taken; it’s nothing personal – despite my good intentions I still have bills to pay. Golden Rule is: get in as early as you can.
I’d much rather work with nice people than be rich.
I reserve the right to do a job just because it pays well even if I think the film is a dog. My principles have limits, except for the religion thing.
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How to sell Antichrist
Still, it got me thinking about some of my favourite posters this year, and seeing as three of them have been for the same film – Lars von Trier’s Antichrist – I thought I’d investigate further, and talk to some REAL experts (i.e. not you) about how Antichrist was sold around the world.
An interview with a number of designers about our Antichrist posters. Truly the campaign that wouldn’t die, somewhat appropriately. Click here.
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Copyright
All unused art is copyright ©2002-2010 Jeremy Saunders.
All published artworks copyright ©2002-2010 Jeremy Saunders except:The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Don’t Move
The Door in the Floor
Good Night and Good Luck
Look at Me
PS
Marigold
Masai
The Motorcycle Diaries
Tarnation
Vera Drake
Water
We Don’t Live Here Anymore
The Weeping Camel
The World’s Fastest Indiancopyright ©Becker Group
Candy
Oyster Farmercopyright ©Becker Group/Sherman Pictures
Little Fish
Suburban Mayhemcopyright ©Icon Films
Reproduced with permission.Works ©Jeremy Saunders may be reproduced online for strictly non-commercial purposes, with attribution. Please contact me regarding use or reproduction beyond this. Reasonable use is rarely refused.
+ Read more…November 27, 2009 | Posted By: Jem | Why key art? |
My first poster
Comrades –
I grew up in a tiny village tucked away in the heart of the Cotswolds, in the west of England. In the 1970s, exhibition was feeling the pinch from television; as a result our nearest cinema was over twenty miles away, which is a long way when you’re six and an impatiently budding cinephile. So trips to the cinema felt rare and were much cherished.
There was a more regular source for my passions, however. I’d often see key art reproduced as advertisements in my Mickey Mouse or 2000AD comics. Seeing Robert McGinnis’ wonderful artwork for Live and Let Die for example — even in low-resolution black and white — meant on some level I could experience the film in the absence of actually seeing it. I remember imagining the films based on the details of each poster: the events that led up to this boat chase, or the appearance of that crocodile, or what could be causing that composition-defining explosion behind Roger Moore’s laconic, iconic figure. So I suppose my current vocation was in some way predestined.
It took some time for me to arrive where I am; a brace of aborted attempts at a real education and adventures in music retail kept me off the streets, until one day the fates smiled on me and lent me a bent copy of Photoshop 4.0 LE for the weekend. It’s not a great exaggeration to say Adobe saved my life. I have never looked back (but I have purchased legitimate versions).
It’s still my ambition to inspire in the viewer that same sense of excitement or intrigue that I felt lying on my bedroom floor leafing through monochrome advertisements: that need to discover precisely what feelings, ideas or emotions the key art represents, what treats and surprises are in store when the viewer steps into the darkened auditorium. For me cinema is still the most magical of mediums; having the opportunity to work with filmmakers and compressing their ideas into a single, reductive, seductive image is a dream come true. Hopefully there are some six-year-olds in country towns (with admittedly advanced art-house sensibilities) who may be similarly inspired.
I’ve yet to have a chance at designing a Bond poster, but like my six-year-old self, I live in hope…
Thanks for visiting and please feel free to get in touch.
Jeremy
+ Read more…Contact
Please have a quick look through the Frequently Asked Questions page before you submit your email. You may find the answer there, especially if it’s a question that’s, you know, frequently asked. Cheers.
Tel +61 404 832 166
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Skype terminaljeremy
Facebook Jeremy Saunders Key Art
Twitter jeremyrsaunders
Email Please use the form below
Please note Business hours are 09:00 – 17:30 AET Mon-Thu -
FAQ #2
Can I buy one of your posters?
Unfortunately Australian posters are only produced for the theatres and not reprinted for the general public.
I’ve decided to sell off the very few copies I have in my storeroom. They are unused and somewhere between MINT and VERY GOOD. Plus, it’s not like you can get them anywhere else, right?
Well, there is one place: try Phil Edwards at www.cinemarts.com as he manages to get his hands on some of them, and he credits me by name.
Note: Don’t, don’t, DON’T buy the horrible quality, copyright-breaching shit from Pop Culture Graphics on Amazon.com. They are not original posters, and are exactly the sort of quality you’d get if you were to print out images you’d nicked from IMPAwards…
EDIT: The shop is closed at the moment, but will re-open shortly.
+ Read more…FAQ #1
How can I get into making film posters?
Okay, firstly we call it key art, not film posters. It sounds Far More Important and we can also make believe we’ll still have jobs in five years’ time when no-one prints posters anymore.
Basically any design skills are secondary to your ability to analyse and dissect a film, and interpret the film in a creative way (this is a good thing as I — obviously — cannot design for shit). Which takes a lot of watching and discussing films — the design bit is just a simple spewing out of ideas you’ve already worked through in your head. Stay away from high concept blockbusters and immerse yourself in stuff with ideas. Watch The Cremaster Cycle. Watch The Holy Mountain. Watch The Seventh Continent. Watch Inland Empire. Anything that makes you think ‘what the?’ but is obviously dripping with ideas just beyond your grasp is a good place to start. Watch stuff in other languages, from other cultures.
Analyse and interpret, and work out what you want to say about what the film wants to say. Think about who would enjoy the film and what they would enjoy about it. And even if you hate it, you have to analyse what people who will like it would want to see on the poster, that will attract them to come along and pay their $15. So aside from the gut response you have to have a really strong marketing instinct. It’s not art — graphic design is about selling stuff and all the technical skill in the world will not help if you don’t understand sales and marketing.
Roll it all up and design ‘posters’ for everything you watch (if only in your head). Visit IMPAwards.com regularly. I’d suggest trying to do book jackets or cd covers as well, given they are solely metaphorical and ideas-based, rather than measuring actors’ heads to avoid getting shouted at by their agents, which is dull.
Short film-makers always want posters and dvd slicks for their films whether they need them or not, so that’s a good place to start. Hassle the local film school or theatre companies for work. You may be doing stuff for free or cheap but it’s all about getting contacts and a portfolio up together. Don’t think of it as selling your soul.
That comes the first time you have to disregard everything I’ve just said and stick three actors’ heads floating in the sky.
Good luck!
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The Motorcycle Diaries aka Diarios de Motocicleta
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Gettin’ Square
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Client: Jonathan Teplitzky / Mushroom Pictures / WTA / Maquarie Nine / Freshwater Films -
Concerning Constitutional Eruptions (#1)
Comrades –
I think it’s fair to say I was a rather sensitive child. I recall the spiteful Mister Adams, the then-deputy head of my secondary school (vile selective grammar in the heart of the Cotswolds with aspirations to the culture of an Etonesque boarding school for toffs combined, unhappily, with the bitter self-loathing of a non-fee-paying institution that never quite sent enough people to Oxford nor the other place) remarking to another colleague as I was having a panic attack in the gym one day — “he’s a rather sensitive child” — the words spat out rather too loudly in order that I not only heard but also felt them and their implications of weakness, lily-livery and general divorce from masculinity, but also that the rest of the class would be clearly apprised of my position on the sensitivity scale (top right) and the corresponding position on the pecking order for the remainder of the educational experience (bottom left). Without fuss or noticeable effort charts were plotted and graphs extruded, and the mimeographed results passed around the year, detailing one’s position on the Physical Violence Index (A reasonable but improvable 3rd). Due to my increasingly undisguised contempt for the institution and its inmates this position steadily climbed over the years until I hit the heady heights of Number One — while my head was being highly hit — and let me tell you from painful but character-building experience that it is a true test of one’s ability to adopt an air of withering disdain when being dragged by one’s feet down four flights of concrete stairs by thirty braying schoolboys (although those of you that know me well will be unsurprised to hear I believe I succeeded). What smarted more than the tone and the volume was that this spiteful and malicious remark, like all honestly hurtful and malicious remarks, was actually the cast-iron truth. I was a rather sensitive child.
And while my sensitivity may these days be rather masked by powdery foundation of sneering cynicism and a brushed-over application of quick wit, there is one area where all the quick quips and the rambling run-on-sentences fail to reach. My deepest darkest sensitivity, that cannot be masked or hidden or helped in any way — is doubtless something more physical. It still occasionally surfaces despite my best intentions. It regularly and often hurriedly and without warning rises to the surface and is ejected violently from my body. My sensitivity, my friends, is constitutional. It is also eruptive. Often quite spectacularly so.
However despite the unpleasant nature of feeling my last meal rush with burning intensity through the delicate membranes of my nasal passages and spray into the toilet bowl, shimmering through my tears below me, I have been fortunate enough to have endured the trials of a vigourous vomiter in a number of hopefully instructive and/or amusing circumstances. And so in the first of what may turn out to be a reasonably long series of infrequent story posts, I present to you the following charming and heartwarming tale.
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+ Read more…Concerning Orientation and Proportion
“Chapter one. He adored New York City. He idolised it all out of proportion. Uh, no. Make that, “He romanticised it all out of proportion. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.”
Uh… no. Let me start this over.
Woody Allen, Manhattan
Comrades –
New York is my kind of town. I know, I know, this is in all likelihood not the first time you’ve heard that said. I know, I know, it’s your kind of town too. I know, I know, that it’s safe to say that if you have any kind of town at all, if the oxygen carried through your blood doesn’t feel quite right without a certain sooty residue, if the sound of silence at night less soothes you and more creeps you the fuck out, if the placid grandeur of nature at its most fundamentally natural leaves you feeling even the tiniest bit guilty as you wonder where the hell you’re going to get wi-fi access from, if in fact towns are your thing on any level at all, then it’s probably true that New York is your kind of town. Sure, there are prettier places, there are crazier places, there are busier places and god knows there are friendlier places, but none of those places are New York, and without wanting to get overly tautological about it, only New York has the New Yorkness, the New Yorkitude, the New Yorkacity, that makes it New York. It is, I trust I’ve made clear without in any way labouring the point, New York, and that is my kind of town.
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Concerning Gravity and Literature
Comrades -
I’m currently sitting in a rather average hotel room in Los Angeles after spending the day sauntering (yes, Jeremy saunters, very good) around the architectural-hodge-podge-cum-racetrack that is West Hollywood. Sadly despite the radio station’s proclamation on my journey into the megalopolis from the dusty oppression of Palm Springs, that this was ‘the cultural capital of the world’ – a statement which inspired incredulous guffawing for whole minutes from a man who is frankly a stranger to guffawing, wouldn’t recognise guffawing if it (laughing heartily, naturally) punched me about the nuts and took my picture – culture, other than atrociously photoshopped billboards plastered with the upcoming delights of the New Shows for the Fall Season, has been thinner on the ground than the gold that once led people here in their thousands… Or maybe it was oranges that led people here…? Was scurvy a major issue for the weary travellers on the Oregon Trail? If it was, then that metaphor slips from ‘weak’ to ‘terminal’, and in the interests of sparing us all another dreary family-huddled-around-the-hospital-bed-scene let’s pretend it was gold and history be damned. To be honest, if you’re looking for historical accuracy, then I think even at this early stage it is safe to say that your best interests would be better served elsewhere. Likewise, brevity. Off you pop.
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Architect of Evil
Here’s an interview I did with Matt’s Movie Reviews about the Antichrist poster.
Architect of Evil: Interview with Jeremy Saunders (2009)
+ Read more…Cinetology Interview
“Regardless of whether it’s a physical poster, a graphic on a web page or a DVD cover, it’s still the most direct shorthand we have to describe the world of the film,” he says. “I don’t think that’s going to go away. At least I hope not because, you know, I’m crap at designing letterheads.”
Interview is here. (2009)
+ Read more…Interview with Australian Edge
Jeremy Saunders arrived in Sydney from the UK in 2000, and has been working as a Key Art Designer on many of the big Australian films since. Designing posters for Candy, Little Fish, Suburban Mayhem, Macbeth and most recently for Samson & Delilah.
Interview is here. (2009)
+ Read more…Interview with Inside Film (full version)
Jeremy Saunders is one of the best key art designers in the Australian film industry, and has designed posters for Suburban Mayhem, Candy, Little Fish, Romulus My Father, The Square and most recently contributed to the art for Dying Breed. Using his poster for The Square as a template, he tells Simon de Bruyn why it’s hard to always get it right.
Interivew is here, in all its billious glory (2008)
+ Read more…Interview with Design Federation
From self taught deviant Artist, to producing posters for some of Australia’s biggest films, Jeremy Saunders lets us inside his mental space. Be warned; Photoshop and LE are mentioned in the same sentence!
Interview is here (2007)
+ Read more…Last Night with Riviera
Matt Riviera has some lovely things to say about me and my work. Which is nice.
Further aggrandising here (2006)
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